Improvement in hammer-guards for fire-arms



B. SINGLETON- I Hammer-Guard for Fire-Arms.

No. 28,109. Patented May 1, 1860,

NJFETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPMER. WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNTTE STATns ATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN SINGLETON, OF PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2,l09, dated May 1, 1860.

T0 at whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN SINGLETON, of Portsmouth, in the county of Norfolk and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hammer-Guards for Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specilication, in which- Figure 1 is a top view-of parts of the stock and barrels of a double-barreled gun with my improvement, showing one of the hammerguards in section. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

The object of my invention is to prevent more effectually than has hitherto been done the accidental discharge of fire arms, more particularly of sporting-guns, by the catching of the hammers against any obstacles which may present themselves in their way in careless carriage; and to this end my invention consists in the employment of a fixed guard constructed and applied to a fire-arm as hereinafter described, in combination with a hammer having a laterally-projecting thumb-piece working through the said guard.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In applying my invention to a double-barreled gun I employ a separate hammer-guard for each hammer, as represented in the drawings, and in applying it to a single-barreled piece I use a single guard of similar form and construct the hammer in the same manner.

A A represent the hammer-guards, either struck out of plate metal or cast of such arched form as to cover the heads of the hammers entirely, open on one side and closed on the other side, with the exception of being furnished with a slot, 1), for the neck a of the thumbpiece B of its respective hammer O to work through. \Vhen the hammers are applied on the sides of the piece, as is generally the case, the open sides of the guards are toward the outer sides of the hammers, as represented in the drawings, and the slotted sides toward the inner sides. guards should preferably be made concave to protect the thumb-pieces-as much as possible. The hammers are of the usual form, except that the'usual thumb-pieces above the heads are dispensed with in order to keep the guard as low as possible, and the thumb-pieces O are made separate from the hammer with stems a,

which are screwed into the sides of the heads of the hammers after the hammers and their guards are in their places.

The guards may be attached to the arms in any suitable manner; but I prefer to make them with flanges c c, to receive screws 01 d, which screw into holes in the stocks or in the stock and break-off or breeches.

I do not claim, broadly, the employment of guards to cover and protect the hammers of fire-arms; but

What I claim as my invention, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of an arched guard, A, constructed and applied to a fire-arm, substantially as herein described, and a hammer with a laterally-projecting thumb-piece, B, working through one side of the said guard, substantially as herein specified.

BENJAMIN SINGLETON.

W'itnesses:

WM. R. SINGLETON, CHAS. E. OASSELL.

The inner slotted sides of the 

